MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL !!!

Source:http://artfiles.art.com/

Rishto ki umar nahi hoti…

Zindagi Mukhtasar nahi hoti,
Kyuki rishto ki umar nahi hoti,

Mausam se bhi jaldi badalte hai rishte,
Kabhi kabhi bevajah bemaar yeh rishte…
Chahe jitna bhi samet lo,
Pal pal bekharte rishte….

Har saath ek rishta,
Khamosh tanhai ek rishta…

Kabhi pak kabhi napak yeh rishta,
Mashhoor kabhi, kabhi badnaam yeh rishta….
Rishta benaam kabhi,
Kabhi naam hai yeh rishta….

Kabhi bhudha, kabhi jawaan yeh rishta
Kabhi masoom kabhi shaitan yeh rishta….
Yeh rishta zindagi kabhi,
Kabhi maut hai yeh rishta

Ek ek rishte se baanti hai zindagi,
Ek ek zindagi se baanta hai rishta….

Tumse toh aaj mile hai,
Toh yeh rishta purana kyu lagata hai…
Voh jo barso se saath hai,
Begana kyu lagata hai…

Ek ek rishte se baanti hai zindagi,
Ek ek zindagi se baanta hai rishta….

Phir bhi zindagi mukhtasar nahi hoti,
Kyuki rishto ki umar nahi hoti….
Rishto ki umar nahi hoti…
Rishto ki umar nahi hoti…

Zindagi ya Maut

Maut ko gale lagana aasaan hai,
Zindagi se bhag jaana aasaan hai…
Par, Jinke ankho mein manzil ki roshni ki chamak,
Haatho mein umeed ki dor ho…
Voh zindagi se muh chupaya nahi karte,
Adhuri jung chod...
bhag jaaya nahi karte
Maut toh aani hai par,
Yun usse apne haatho bulaaya nahi karte...

Aao hum saab mil kar thame haath,
Aao hum saab mil kar thame haath…
Madaath kare apni aur unki jinhe,
Jarurat hai uski…


Ke tanha zindagi kaati jaati hai,
Saath ho gar kissi ka toh
bus Yun hi guzaar jati hai….


Aur phir koi kaheta hai.....

Kabhi aati hai nazaar zindagi,
Aarzuo se bataar...
Toh kabhi Maut,
Sapno se behetar...

Mujhe maat roko…

Mujhe maat roko,
Yeh manzil nahi hai meri...
Shayad tum nahi jaate,
Tamana bulandiyo ko chune ki hai meri.....

Mujhe maat daraao,
Dekhakar mushkile...
Shayad tum nahi jaate,
Pashano se druthta hai meri......

Samjho na apni jeet,
Deekhakar kuch parajay meri...
Khel abhi aadhura hai aur,
Josh mujh mein abhi hai baaki.....

Khel abhi aadhura hai aur,
Josh mujh mein abhi hai baaki.....

Santa Claus is coming....

I don’t know what is it about Christmas but I just LOVE the festival. I love everything about the festival. The whole Christmassy feeling is sooooo good. X’mas tree, Santa Claus, Crib, Cakes & pastries, Cold weather, lovely gifts and even the Mass. Though it’s been years since I have attended the Midnight Mass but I still eagerly await Christmas every single year.

Maybe it’s got to do with the fact that my dad started it all when I was a kid we were asked to hang our socks on Christmas Eve and anxiously wait for our gifts and walk to the Church at Midnight for a small prayer and the some cracker show too. Its wasn’t like the gifts were something big or anything , it could be anything from a toy that I have been longing for to a fountain pen that I like in the store during our last visit or maybe a comic book but it was the surprise that mattered. We would make loud wishes and prayers before Christmas for our gifts from Santa to ensure that my dad had a hint of what to get.

I love the late night dinner with family and friends (and the off late fancy for wine just adds to the longing)

And with Christmas just round the corner I am getting all excited. I can’t wait for it to come.

My Ultimate Comedy Collection...

Kal Aaj aur Kal

Kal se ubhar pao toh,
kal ko dekh paonga...
Aaj se neepat lu toh,
kal par pahuch jaonga...

Kal aaj se jeetne nahi deta hai,
Aaj kal tak pahuch nahi deta hai....

Kashmakash kal aaj aur kal ki,
Bikhare hue, tute hue pal ki....

Umeed ka daaman thame hue hu,
Shiddat ka sahara hai...
Jissne itni muskile di hai
aab toh bus, usko hi pukara hai...

Yakeen hai,
kal ki tasveer kal se behtaar hogi....
Jissne mujh paar itna bharosa kar,
Muskilo ko de maara hai....
Ho na ho yeh usska hi
koi eshara hai ....

Umeed ka daaman thame hue hu,
Shiddat ka sahara hai...
Jissne itni muskile di hai
aab toh bus, usko hi pukara hai...


Aur phir koi kaheta hai
Umeede najayaz hai

Aasu...

Kitni baar kaha hai Mehfil mein maat aaya karo,
Mujhe sharminda kaar yu naa sataya karo....

Iss par aasu bole....
Mehfil mein bhi tumko tanha paate hai,
Issi liye chale aate hai,
Chahe jo ho tera saath na chodenge,
Haath thama hai toh daaman na chodenge ....

image source: http://lovekaty.net/images/

My Ultimate Arty Collection...

Picture Abhi Baaki Hai...

itni shiddat say mein nay tumhein panay ki koshish ki hai,
kay har zarray nay mujhe tum say milanay ki sazaish ki hai...

Kehete hai agar kissi cheez ko dil se chaho
toh puri kainaat usse tumse millane ke koshish mein lag jati hai
aaj aap saab ne mujhe meri chahat se milaya

Thank you thank you very much

Mein aap saab ka shukra guzaar hue
Ki aap ne mere khabo ko yaakein mein badal diya itna
Itna ki I feel like the king of the world

aur aaj iss baat ka bhi yakeen ho gaya ki humari filmo ki tarah
humari zindagi mein bhi end mein saab teek ho jata hai

Happiees Endings

Aur agar teek na ho toh voh "The End" nahi hai dosto

Picture Abhi Baaki Hai....

From Om Shanti Om

Kitaabo se kabhi gujro...

Kitaabo se kabhi gujro,
toh yu kirdaar milte hai....

Gaye waqt ki devadi mein,
Khade kuch yaar milte hai.....

Jisse hum dil ka virana...
samajh kar chod aaye the,

Vaha ujale shehairo ke
aasaar milte hai.....

By Gulzar

Happy Children's Day...

I support the Nanhi Kali Project. Today on Children’s day I am reminded of the best social cause advertisement that I have seen till date to save the girl child.

It was in Marathi years ago on Doordarshan where they show a very small baby girl with her hands and legs tied up, eyes covered with a piece of cloth and mouth covered with a tape. Slowly a hand begins to open the eyes, removes the tape, free the hands and the legs and in the background you hear a voice over which goes like… (For those who don’t know Marathi kindly excuse me)

Kahi Janmdaate aapalya mulinna…
…janm bhar zakadhun thevatat…
…Ugda teeche dole…
pahudya teela jagaa kade…
…shikun savarun…

Vyakt karu dyaa…
tila teechya Bhavana…

Haath dyaa teela…
…ya khadakar jagaat
Tumhich hou shata teeche…
…khare mitr, khare janmdaate…

So lets take this opportunity to make our small contribution to this cause. Make your contribution at http://www.nanhikali.org/Donate.htm

Hey I won I won and what ???

Yes I have finally won an award in my virtual world of Blogging.....

Thank you A Blue eyed Girl

Sorry guys n gals right now i am too choked with emotions but i have prepared a small acceptance speech of my own for such an occassion...

Kindly bear with me...

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my dear ones...

First of all I would like to thank god and my parents in the same breath

I would like to thank all my friends for their encouragement

My regular readers (kindly identify yourself if you exist) except of course a blue eyed girl

All and sundry (for everybody i have not included or forgotten though if i have its intentional)

Its a nice feeling to be recognised and awarded and now i shall be pitching for the thinking blogger award

I always knew that i had it in me...

As there are no rules to pass it on like a tag and given the fact that i am bit selfish with awards i shall keep my award of thoughtful reader for some other time when i run out of topics and shayaris which i quite often do ....

P.S. : Let me know if i could get there i mean the various movie awards' dais with this small thanksgiving of mine.

Anyways thanks again a blue eyed girl all in light humor :-)

Alive...

Son, she said, have I got a little story for you
What you thought was your daddy was nothin but a...
While you were sittin home alone at age thirteen
Your real daddy was dyin, sorry you didnt see him, but Im glad we talked...
Oh i, oh, Im still alive
Hey, i, i, oh, Im still alive
Hey i, oh, Im still alive
Hey...oh...
Oh, she walks slowly, across a young mans room
She said Im ready...for you
I cant remember anything to this very day
cept the look, the look...
Oh, you know where, now I cant see, I just stare...
I, Im still alive
Hey i, but, Im still alive
Hey i, boy, Im still alive
Hey i, i, i, Im still alive, yeah
Ooh yeah...yeah yeah yeah...oh...oh...
Is something wrong, she said
Well of course there is
Youre still alive, she said
Oh, and do I deserve to be
Is that the question
And if so...if so...who answers...who answers...
I, oh, Im still alive
Hey i, oh, Im still alive
Hey i, but, Im still alive
Yeah i, ooh, Im still alive
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah....

By Pearl Jam

Is what i wanna say to everyone..... I am still alive yeah I am still alive ........

Very sorry for being away for such a long time i say....

Have been caught with a lot of things and hope to write a few posts now that i have some time to myself...

Shall update soon...

Take care.

Bombay...

Here I am - this is me

There's no where else on earth I'd rather be

Here I am - it's just me and you

And tonight we make our dreams come true

It's a new world - it's a new start

It's alive with the beating of young hearts

It's a new day - it's a new plan

I've been waiting for you

Here I am

Here we are - we've just begun

And after all this time - our time has come

Ya here we are - still goin' strong

Right here in the place where we belong

Here I am - this is me

There's no where else on earth I'd rather be

Here I am - it's just me and you

And tonight we make our dreams come true

Here I am - next to you

And suddenly the world is all brand new

Here I am - where I'm gonna stay

Now there's nothin standin in our way

Here I am - this is me

By Bryan Adams

Sapne...

Hume khayalo mein jeene do,
Ya sach kar dekhao sapne humare...

khamoshi ki zubaan...

Tum yun khamoshi ki zubaan na bola karo,
Kahin hum samajh naa paayen...
Tum itne dil ke kareeb bhi toh nahin ke,
Andhere mein bhi pehchaan jaayen...

Tamaana aane ki hai kareeb tumhare,
Tum yun faasale na dekhaya karo...
Aaisa naa ho ke ek ho manzil,
Aur raaste alag ho jayen...

Yaado ko kaha dhafunao...

Intezaar mein guzri kai mulakate,
Bekarar dil aur kuch unkahi baate...
Umar bhar ka itnezaar,
Aur chand lamho ki mulakate...
Unn Mulakato ko kaha dhafunao...

Khamoshi jo tumne kahi,
Baate jo humne sunni...
Kahete kahete rukh gayi,
Ankhe jo sharam se jhuk gayi...
Baate jo ho kar na ho saki,
Unn baato ko kaha dhafunao...

Mil kar jo dekhe the,
Sapne - kuch apne aur kuch apno ke....
Sunhre kal ke, un haseen pal ke
Kuch aasue ke, kahi khushi ke,
Mere kaal mein jo baase hai sapne,
Unn sapno ko kaha dhafunao...

Kasame jo khayi thi,
Nibhane the jo waade...
Kasame saath jeene ki,
Waade saath marne ke,
Nibhane ke liye jo kiye the waade,
Unn waado ko kaha dhafunao...


Rishta toh jaane kab dhafun ho gaya,
Unn mulakato ko, unn baato ko...
Unn sapno ko, unn waado ko...
Bus itna bataado,
Unn yaado ko kaha dhafunao...

Yaado ko kaha dhafunao…

Yaado ko kaha dhafunao…


That actually reminds me of ‘Mera Kuch Samaan’ by Gulzar from Izzajat. Anyways I adore Gulzar so I would be more than happy if it does…..

Maajdhar...

Zindagi maano maajdhar hai….
Yaha maajhi ki talaash bekaar hai
Khud dhondo apna kinara varna…
Dusara dhakalne ko taiyaar hai,

Kyon na ho
Har koi jo laadh raha hai...

Usse jeet ka adhikar hai....

Talaash Jaari Hai...

Beete palo ki rakh mein khushiya talaash karta hu,
Mein apni zindagi ke khakh mein bulandiya talaash karta hu,

Rakh mein bhi mil jayegi chingari koi...
Yehi soch kar thak-thakaya har darwaza kismat ka....
Mil jayegi shayad uchaai koi...

Kya karu iss zindagi ka,
Ke isska bojh bahut bhari hai...
Phir bhi khatam na ho sakegi ke....
Manzilo ki talaash jaari hai...

Talaash jaari hai...
Talaash rishto ki, raasto ki,
Musafiro ki, rahagiro ki,
Aaj talaash kaal ki kaal talaash beete pal ki....

Zindagi mein kisski na maut se yaari hai...
Phir manzilo ki talaash jaari hai...

Talaash jaari hai...

Talaash jaari hai...

Umeede najayaz hai...

Beete hue chand lamhat dohra raha hu....
yaado ke kuch moti beekher raha hu...


hakikat se mat ghabrana mere yaar,
ek yehi toh hai jo chehra nahi badalti
hakikat ko jo samajh gaya ek baar,
yakeen aur vaham ki na hogi galati…. by aarzkiyahai

my reply....
Yakeen aur vaham ki galati nahi hoti humse
Gar thake na hote aapne hi gumse,
Kya kare ki humko badshakal hakikat nahi suhati,
Varna kaun se surat hai joh aaine se katrati

Mukhote liye duniya ko hasaate hai,
Aakhmicholi khel apne hi gumse dur bhag jate hai,
Kissko hai fursat ke humare zakhmo par marhum lagaye,
Apne zakhmo bhul humara gum apnaye,

Umeede najayaz hai,
Khwaishe bemaani,
Zindagi apni hai aap hi nibhani,
Aakho se sukh gaya hai pani,
Umeede najayaz hai,
Khwaishe bemaani,


Update : aap ka hukum saar ankho par

aarzkiyahai ne baat chedi...(refer comments)

gum ki hakikat ko humne hai pechana
zamkho ki dard ko humne hai seh-jaana
duniya se koi shikayat shiwah nahi hume
bewafaa ki mohabat ko humne hai nibhana

Aab baat nikali hai toh dur talak jayegi

Humara jawab.....

zamkho ke dard ka gum na tha,
na shiwah shikayat kissi se,
ranjishi toh bus yeh hai ke,
kum se kum bewafaa ne kabhi mohabat toh ki hoti...

bewafaai bhi seh lete...
Hum unn do ghadiyo mein jee lete..
Voh ek ehsaas zindagi bhar ke liye kum na tha....
zamkho ke dard ka gum na tha,
zamkho ke dard ka gum na tha,

Happy Friendship Day...

I am inspired by all the news channel flashing Happy Friendship Day here is my contribution to the same. My favourite dosti song for all my friends...

Yaaron dosti bahi hi haseen hai
Yeh na ho to kya phir
Bolo yeh zindgi hai
Koi to ho raajdaar
Be garaj tera ho yaar
Koi to ho raajdaar

Yaaron mohabbat hi to bandgi hai
Yeh na ho to kya phir
bolo yeh zindgi hai
Koi to dilbar ho yaar
Jisko tujhse ho pyaar
Koi to dilbar ho yaar

Teri har ke buraai pe
daante vo dost
Gam ki ho dhoop to
saaya bane tera vo dost
Naache bhi vo
Teri khushi main

Yaaron dosti bahi hi haseen hai
Yeh na ho to kya phir
Bolo yeh zindgi hai
Koi to ho raajdaar
Be garaj tera ho yaar
Koi to ho raajdaar

Tan mann kar tum pe fida
Mahboob vo
Palkon pe jo rakhe tujhe
Mahboob vo
Jiski vafa tere liye ho

Are Yaaron dosti bahi hi haseen hai
Yeh na ho to kya phir
Bolo yeh zindgi hai
Koi to dilbar ho yaar
Jisko tujhse ho pyaar
Koi to dilbar ho yaar

Lessons from life...

I accidentally happened to get this wonderful speech while surfing through various blogs and could not resist myself from reproducing the same on my page so that I can have this permanently with me. I fully subscribe to each and every word of what has been said and not in anymore words than these.
I have italicized the original transcript intertwined with my thoughts in between in regular font.
It is indeed astonishing to see how two people from different times, different countries and cultures making same inferences through different life experiences.

Source: Stanford News Service

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

I don’t have any particular story (though I would prefer to call it an event), apart from my life till date, to infer the above (a belief that I live by).Through my experiences in life I have realized that indeed life can only be understood backwards and this blog is my modest attempt at it.

Everything makes sense today when I look back but if I was posed with the same question at different points in time, probably I would have been blaming anybody and everybody I could think of.

Many a times during my conversations with myself I have tried to reason incidents in my life but in vain. It’s only when you try to connect your today with yesterday, you realize that there could have been no other way to reach where you stand today leading to a better tomorrow.

Believing so doesn’t mean that you become inert and wait for things to happen but it is this understanding that installs faith in you to get through tough times because His stories always have logical endings if not happy ones.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Last year I resigned from my previous job without any offer in hand. The reason being I was not enjoying what I was doing and it was leading nowhere. It was not an instantaneous decision or a reflex action I had thought over it again and again and yet revisited my decision innumerable times. It’s always difficult to explain why you are jobless and the fact that you are jobless brings yet another series of questions. Questioning everything, from your talent, your attitude and every thing under the sun.

Except for family and a few friends everybody thought that I was crazy to have left a decent job without anything in hand/pipeline. It is also during such testing times that you realize who your friends are and what they mean. Thanks guys.

To add to my troubles I was diagnosed with severe jaundice. A month gone. There was no way I could have searched a job in such a state.

That one month was a hell not that I haven’t had worst times in my life but this was special. This was special because it was self inflicted. I could have simply continued with my previous job instead of acting smart. But for me I am where my heart is.

As I recovered, I got a call from a consultant who never entertained me even when I had a job. 3 hours is all that it took me to get my current job. Miraculous I say but than there isn’t a dearth of miracles in my life. I believe in miracles J

Today when I look back I am thankful to Him that I had jaundice then because I don’t know what I would have done if I had to sit at home jobless/job hunting for a month. The dots just connect backwards…..this time and every time.

Not that I am on seventh heaven today but I definitely enjoy what I am doing and that is what matters the most.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

The closest I’ve been to facing death was when my Mother was diagnosed with cancer. We found out about her ailment at a stage when there wasn’t much we could do. Here was my mom who was silently walking towards death. More than being devastated I was helpless. A helplessness that is even more torturous then death itself seeing someone you love die a little bit every day. Waking up every morning with a fear that the inevitable might have happened. Living in fear is worst then not living at all.

Kabhi samajh mein nahi aata hai…
Ki maut jee rahe hai ya….
Zindagi khatum hone ko hai

However, in all this despair the force that was pulling all of us through was her will to survive and live each moment as if there wasn’t going to another. She was not sorry for her state. Just that she was on a fast track than others.

Ek musafir ke safar jaisi hai sab ki duniya
koi jaldi koi der se jane vala

Her attitude towards life gave me enough courage and conviction to last for a life time.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.


Now I am really hungry and foolish I have always been ;-) Time for me to log off

A passing PJ to lighten things up after the heavy dose of Gyan.

In an interview,

Interviewer: How does an electric motor run?
Santa: Dhhuuuurrrrrrrrrr. .....
Inteviewer shouts: Stop it.
Santa: Dhhuurrrr dhup dhup dhup...

Ab Khushi Hai Na Koi.....

Ab Khushi Hai Na Koi Gam Rulane Vala
hamane apana liya har rang zamane vala

Us ko rukhsato kiya tha mujhe malum na tha
sara ghar le gaya, ghar chod ke jane vala

Ek musafir ke safar jaisi hai sab ki duniya
koi jaldi koi der se jane vala

Ek be-chehara si ummid hai chehara-chehara
jis taraf dekhiye anne ko hai anne vala

Singer: Jagjit Singh; Album: Hope

More postcards from Ladakh...

This place doesn't seem to get out of my mind....

Khud se baatien karte rahena...

I never thought of myself as a blogger. But now I think that there is a blogger in each one of us, has to be because we humans are born with a desire to communicate, to express and to voice our thoughts, our emotions. Even before when I didn’t blog I would write notes on my cellphone. I talk to myself when I go on long walks because that helps me clear my thoughts. These are my conversations, discussions, arguments, fights, confessions with myself.

So when I discovered blogs I was immediately fascinated by them because here was a medium to voice your thoughts to yourself and to strangers as strangers and yet get so many perspectives by way of anonymous comments. Each comment is a school of thought. Each comment gives a different perspective.

I feel blogging is like what Gulzar says in one of his songs from Maya Memsaab

Khud Se Baatein Karte Rehna
Baatein Karte Rehna….
Aankhen Moonde
Din Mein Meethi Raatein Bharte Rehna….
Khud Se Baatein Karte Rehna
Baatein Karte Rehna….Baatein...

Khud Se Kehna Jaati Hoon Mein
Khud Se Kehna Aai Mein
Aaisa Bhi To Hota Hai Na Halkisi Tanhaai Mein
Tanhaai Mein Tasveeron Ke Chehre Bharte Rehna

Khud Se Baatein Karte Rehna
Baatein Karte Rehna….
Aankhen Moonde
Din Mein Meethi Raatein Bharte Rehna….
Khud Se Baatein Karte RehnaBaatein Karte Rehna….Baatein...

Baato ka yeh silsila jaari rahega is chote se entaral ke baad....

Which language do you think in ?

Every language has its own charm. The expressions are so unique to a language. So a translation can never live up to the original because there is always something that is “Lost in Translation”. The beauty of a poem, the meaning of a phrase or even the impact of abuses is lost in translation.

I believe that we Indians always think in our mother tongue and then translate the same into English. And by translation I mean literal translation. I am no exception to it. So many times it happens that I say yesterday evening and then realize my stupid mistake to correct it to last evening because in Hindi we say “kaal shyam” which translates to yesterday evening

So when a colleague of mine asked me “Which language do you think in?” I didn’t have an answer because I think in multiple languages.

I think in Hindi, in Marathi, in Gujarathi and sometimes even in English.

Which language do you think in ?

Postcards from Ladakh....

After a very long time took a vacation, went to Ladakh for 5 days. Though a lot has been said, and written about the wonderful place there is nothing in the vocabulary of any language that can do justice to the beauty of this paradise. The beauty of the place is to be experienced and captured in your memories to be lived again and again ...

Collage of Life

Life is a collage of events, happenings and a few mishappenings,

a collage of friends, family and foes,

a collage of what we wanted to do, what we did and what we didn't do

I have been very fond of collages since childhood because they bring out the sense out of bits which do not make any sense in isolation...

I hope to present a few bits of nonsense that make up my life as i progress to towards the completion of my collage of life slowly and steadily...

A new beginning

My initiation into Blogging...Just Checking